Phoenix (chess)

Phoenix moves as wazir or alfil, and can jump.

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

White to move can mate in two by 1.(WA)e6+ Kh8 2.(WA)ff6#.

A phoenix is a fairy chess piece that moves as a wazir or an alfil. Below, it is given the symbol WA. In this article, the phoenix is represented by an inverted knight.

The phoenix appears under this name (Japanese: 鳳凰, hōō) in the 14th-century Japanese game of chu shogi, and also in many other shogi variants. It appears as the waffle in Ralph Betza's Chess with different armies. It is approximately equal to the knight in value.

Two phoenixes and a king can force checkmate on a bare king.

References

• The WA by Ralph Betza, The Chess Variant Pages